The Japanese Art Collection

Composed of gifts from faculty and friends, the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) collection of Japanese prints exemplifies a long-standing relationship between East and West.

In 1969, faculty of the UMUC Tokyo campus began purchasing and donating Japanese prints to the university as a way of building a collection to commemorate beloved colleagues. Choice of the Japanese print was due in great part to its traditional role as a popular and accessible art form. It can also be attributed to an appreciation of great craftsmanship and the art form's ability to capture the essence of a country where faculty members had lived and worked and that they had come to love and deeply appreciate.

Over the past 33 years, the prints have made their way to the Maryland headquarters, largely one by one, with the exception of a very generous presentation of 20 Yoshitoshi Mori pieces by the artist himself, and the remarkable donation of the collection of Emory Trosper, longtime professor at UMUC's Tokyo campus. There are now more than 120 prints by 35 artists in the collection.